Our guest on today’s podcast is Emily Yates who works for Mima, an inclusive creative design agency. She is a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy and in her job, she heads up the accessibility and inclusive design team for the company.

We talk to Emily about the changes that design can make to people’s lives, and how passionate she is about what she’s doing.

Her work focuses on physical, social and digital accessibility, and inclusive design for disabled people and those with other protected characteristics. This means that yes, inclusivity is important, but true inclusivity looks beyond a focus on disabled people, but also focuses on people with accessibility requirements. Those who may not consider themselves disabled, but parents with young children in prams, older adults who have issues which are just a part of getting older.

Emily tells about her involvement in supporting accessibility in the different countries involved with the Paralympics, which is fascinating to hear. After volunteering for the London 2012 Olympic Paralympic Games, she was then invited to Brazil where the 2016 Games were held. She was offered the opportunity to do some consultancy with Metro Rio who were looking to build a new line to the Olympic Park. We talk about the main differences between attitudes in Brazil and the UK when it comes to disability.

She also talks to us about the incredible work she has been involved in with Visit England. They are creating an inclusive tourism toolkit, specifically for small to medium sized tourism businesses, especially in the areas of accommodation, attractions, food and beverage and events. Emily explains the importance of this great tool, and how it will make it easier and more straightforward for small businesses to become inclusive. And unlike so much of the disparate information that is out there, this will be in one tool kit!

You can contact us at the following:
Dr Carol Sargent: https://sargentgroup.consulting/
Dr Tom Adler: https://getbide.com/